Welcome to THE EVERYDAY LIVES OF THE FRENCH IMPRESSIONISTS.
I am the author of CLAUDE and CAMILLE: A NOVEL OF MONET, the story of the young Claude Monet in his struggling years and his passionate love for his elusive muse Camille. The Boston Globe called it, "AN ENTHRALLING STORY, BEAUTIFULLY TOLD."
This blog shares stories about him, his world, and his fellow impressionists, most of which you never knew. Come visit! People who love Impressionism have visited from all around the world.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Finally! MONET AND HIS MUSE: CAMILLE MONET IN THE ARTIST's LIFE is available on Amazon. I have been waiting a long time for this critical study by esteemed clinical psychologist and art historian Mary Mathews Gedo. When I began to write my novel I wrote to the foremost American scholar on Monet and I asked, "What can you tell me about Camille?" and he said, "Very little." I am so excited to read this!

From the publisher's description: "And then—Camille. Entering Monet’s life when he was still a young man, becoming first his model and then mistress and then—finally—his wife, Camille Doncieux always fulfilled the function of muse, even after her life had ended, as Monet not only painted her one last time on her deathbed, but preserved her memory through the gardens he planted at his home in Giverny." That was just how I saw it as I wrote, with only scraps of diaries and his portraits of her and a few mentions in their friends' letters to guide me.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The beautiful and exquisitely talented Berthe Morisot had already been widowed for some time and was raising her only daughter Julie with the help of friends. Julie was only seventeen when her mother, fatally ill with pneumonia, left her this last heart-rending letter:

"My little Julie, I love you as I die. I will still love you even when I am dead...I had hoped to live until you were married. Work and be good as you have always been; you have not caused me one sorrow in your little life. Do not cry; I love you more than I can tell you...."

115 years after it was written, the love of the great artist for her only child moves me very deeply.

CLAUDE & CAMILLE: a novel of Claude Monet

About Me

I am the author of CLAUDE AND CAMILLE: A NOVEL OF MONET (Crown, April 2010) as well as MARRYING MOZART, NICHOLAS COOKE, THE PLAYERS, and THE PHYSICIAN OF LONDON. My novels have won an American Book Award, been translated into many languages, optioned for a film and chosen for the History Book Club. I was born in New York City and have lived here all my life though family and passion draw me Europe often. I am an Anglo/Catholic (high Episcopalian) who meditates and practices yoga and reiki. I am happily married to a reiki practitioner and have two grown sons.
For information on novels, see http://www.stephaniecowell.com